


Without You? Never.

by Lady_GothiKa



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: 7 Days of trolling Lavellan, Awkward Cullen, Cullen is a pushover, F/M, Family Drama, Humour, Married Life, Meeting the Parents, Romantic Comedy, Set after Trespasser
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-03-02
Packaged: 2019-03-22 03:05:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13754937
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_GothiKa/pseuds/Lady_GothiKa
Summary: Seven days he said, it couldn't be that bad...no, it would be an experience, one she'd never forget, or was it the other way around?





	1. Day 1.

 

**Without You? Never.**

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Eli- _Ellana_ ," Cullen paused to correct himself,  "we've been married for two months now, Maker I thought this would be easier-" His eyes darted away from his wife as she quickly grabbed his hand and gave it a quick squeeze. "Go on, Cullen - you can tell me anything."

 

"I received a letter from Honnleath, _from my parents_." Cullen continued.

 

"Your parents, Cullen is everything okay - are they alright?" Ellana asked, a ripple of shock wavered over her, so much bad had already happen, what else could possible go wrong.

 

"No, no dear - nothing bad has happened thank The Maker."

 

"Then what's wrong, why do you look so nervous?"

 

_Was Cullen sweating..._

 

"I know you've been through a lot, losing your arm - finding Solas again and the Inquisition disbanding -"

 

_What was he getting at..._

 

Cullen took a deep breath and counted to three in his mind and just decided to blurt it out as quick as possible, like tearing off a band-aid. _"Myfamilywantstomeetyou."_

 

"Pardon?" Ellana blinked her eyes, narrowing them towards Cullen.

 

"My-family-wants-to-meet-you." Cullen leaned back against his seat with a sign of relief.

 

His family? How many did he have, he had a older sister Mia, and a brother that was for sure...but what about his parents, she knew nothing of them other than they were from Honnleath in Fereldan.

 

"Oh... When?"

 

 

_Meeting his family couldn't be so bad, nothing could be worse than dealing with Orlesian nobles anyway._

 

 

 

"Well..." Cullen scratched his head with his fingers combing through his short honey curls, "I already took the liberty of booking the carriage, _so tomorrow?"_  

 

 _"Tomorrow?"_ Ellana coughed, it was too soon - she needed time to prepare herself if she wanted to make a good impression. "What - what about Arishok, who's going to take care of him?" Ellana made the first excuse that came into her mind, as she looked down at the mabari curled up on the rug in front of the open hearth.

 

"If you think about it, he is apart of the family - I can't see why he couldn't come with us, it's only a three day trip anyhow."

 

_Great, a three day trip stuck inside a carriage with a obese stinking mabari. It wouldn't be so bad if she didn't get horrific motion sickness from shemlen carriages._

 

"Of course he is." A fake smile grew across her face, "Ah, are you sure about this...I am mean, how long do you think we'll be gone for?"

 

"Seven days - just a week, to be honest with you I am rather nervous, I haven't seen my parents since I was twelve."  Cullen looked away down at the mabari giving him a fast stroke with his hand, "I wrote them letters of course - _when I could_ , But after Kinloch Hold..." Cullen stopped talking and silence grew throughout the room, "well you know how it was - and Kirkwall, I couldn't exactly sail the seas to see them on the weekend."

 

Ellana's stomach twisted, _"Alright, I'll start packing."_

 

 

 

 

 

 

\--

 

 

 

 

 

**DAY 1.**

 

 

 

When the carriage bounced everything bounced with it, three days had past, three long - very long days.  Each day grew longer than the last as was Ellana became more restless, too make things worse Cullen's mabari was starting to smell a lot better than Cullen himself.

 

With a heavy push Ellana opened the carriage window dunking her head into the fresh Fereldan air, "Eli, are you are okay?" Cullen patted her back softly pulling her messy French braid from her face, losing one arm had never stop Ellana doing anything, from packing her things, riding a horse to doing her own hair, she would never ask for help, - an overly stubborn woman she was.

 

"Motion.. _.sickness.._."  Ellana gasped for air on the other side trying not to throw up.

 

"Maker, I am sorry Eli - we'll be there soon, I promise!" Cullen patted over her auburn braid loosing the small leather binding and pulling the braid tight.

 

"What are you doing?" Ellana groaned pulling her hair back over shoulder feeling over the back of her hair where it had been tightened. "I was - just trying to help." Cullen shook his head with a frown, his wife always made things so difficult.

 

_"I am sorr-"_

 

"Sorry?" Cullen chuckled while interrupting, "Eli, I knew what I was getting myself into when I asked you to marry me, but honestly you are the most ill tempered woman I have ever met."

 

A smile greeted Ellana's face as she turned from the window to face her husband, never did she ever picture herself getting married and little alone to human. "That's right buddy, you got yourself into this mess," she giggled slightly that made Cullen's heart flutter and she cheeks blush.

 

 "Cullen, did you tell your parents about me being -" She paused, trying to think back if she was told or not.

 

"Being what - exactly?" He cocked his head with a smile.

 

"About - _about_ , me being an elf, a _Dalish elf_." It was an odd thing to ask, yet it would seem odder not to ask it, consider him being so... _Chantry driven_ , maybe his parents were too...

 

"Oh uh..." Cullen scratched his head anxiously, "Er, it might of slipped the letters."

 

"CULLEN RUTHERFORD!" Ellana smacked his knee with a heavy tap of her right hand, "YOU DIDN'T TELL THEM, _IT SEEMS PRETTY IMPORTANT."_

 

"Please don't yell - _you'll_ spook the horses!" Cullen tugged at his collar, "I simply told them what was important, that I met someone I cherished and loved more than anything, so of course I married you." Cullen looked down with his eyes gazing at her like a sad mabari waiting to be patted.

 

"You know, you can't sweet talk yourself out of everything."

 

"But Maker, I can try can't I?"

 

Ellana felt like rolling her eyes, maybe even signing really loud like Cassandra, yet something always stopped her.

 

_Physically._

 

The Carriage pulled up with a sudden holt and a crash sending Ellana face first into Cullen's chest, _"OUCH!"_

"Ellana?!" Cullen grasped her in his arms as the large over weight mabari came crashing against him too, "UGH." Cullen moaned under the large mass while shielding his wife. "maybe it was a bad idea bringing him," he groaned.

 

"You don't say." Ellana hissed with the stinking mabari under her nose.

 

 

 

**\--**

 

 

 

 _"Are you okay?"_ Cullen asked, he knew he was being over protective, though he found it hard not to be after the Winter Palace, as soon as he asked her for her hand in marriage she lost the other, he wondered often if he was cursed by some kind of foul magic.

 

Ellana nodded softly with a glimmer of a smile as she patted her hand over hair and pushed the over grown mabari off her lamp, "Good, good... Eli you wait here, it'll only be a moment - I will make sure everything is in order, don't you even dare try and carry your bags in... I swear I you carry anything heavy - " Cullen paused, _"Ellana, don't you roll your eyes at me young lady."_ He curled his lip as he spoke in his Ex- Commander tone.

 

 _"Aye, aye Sir."_ Ellana responded blunt tone and a shake of her head.

 

_Maker preserve me..._

 

 

With a slam of the door Cullen's boots made contact with the solid ground he so longed for the last three days. _"Honnleath,"_ he mumbled, everything almost looked the same, everything except the giant missing golem in the center of town, maybe the darkspawn took it, he rubbed his head trying how to understand how they moved it.

 

Two figures stood out the front of his old family home, where they his parents? - they looked familiar, though so much older, somehow Cullen never pictured his parents as old... _and short...._

 

 _"MY CULLYWULLIUMPKINS!"_ The older woman screamed with her hands spread wide, sounding like a abomination or possibly a cat getting stuck in a meat grinder.

 

 

_"Mother?!"_

 

 

"CULLEN!" She wept as she lunged into his arms and grabbed him, _"OH MY, YOU'RE SO BIG, WHAT WHERE THOSE TEMPLARS FEEDING YOU?!"_

 

 _"Mother...shhhh...everything is alright."_ Cullen, patted the back of her long tied up blonde bun that was filled with grey wisps.

 

His eye's darted to towards his older father who stood behind his mother as he clenched her in his arms, he just stood there as blank as day. _"Father?"_

 

"You're late boy, I guess somethings will never change." He crossed his arms with a frown.

 

 

_It had been a good twenty years, was that the first thing he was going to say..._

 

 

"Oh don't be like that!" Cullen's mother hissed back at her husband, "It wasn't his fault, it was them blasted Orlesian horses, I tell you, nothing is good as our Fereldan mounts!"

 

Cullen blinked his eyes completely confuddled, their horses where from Fereldan.. _. "Er, yes...of course you are right mother, as always."_

 

"SEE?!" She yelled towards her husband who frowned even. _"Mhm, whatever you say woman... So where is this wife of yours, please tell me you didn't leave her behind."_  His father pressed his hand to his face with his fingers arched to his forehead.

 

"Yes, of course she came... She's right over-" Cullen paused, there she was getting out of the carriage, he told her to stay put... _"There."_ He signed loud, pointing to the woman with the mabari at her hip.

 

 

 

 ** _"Oh."_** his mother said bluntly, the sharpness of it sending a shook wave of fear throughout his body, why did they have to be like this - Ellana was the Herald of Andraste, how fussy could they be.

 

"That one right... **there**?" His father asked, even more bitter tone than his mother.

 

"Yes...that **one**." Cullen crossed his arms, almost having a gut full of his folks already.

 

 

 **"The elf... The one covered in tattoos?! oh dear..."** Cullen's mother clenched her mouth with her hand watching the young woman bend down to pat the hound at her side, as she stepped back from her son.

 

 

"You married the first woman who gave you attention, didn't you?!" His mother almost yelled as she crossed her arms.

 

"What? no!" Cullen yelled back.

 

Well, that wasn't entirely true...not even close... **_"....maybe...."_**

 

 

 

 

 _"CULLEN RUTHERFORD!"_ His mother yelled, hitting him with the back of her hand with a loud slap.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

\--


	2. Day 1. Meetings and Awkward Greetings.

 

 

 

 

**Day 1.**

 

 

 

Cullen's mother stood their with a foul look upon her face, one that said everything he had feared.

 

"-You said she was the Herald of Andraste, not some elf wildling!"

 

_A wildling..._

 

"She _IS_ the Herald of Andraste, she just also happens to be _Dalish!"_

 

"A elf in charge, don't make me laugh boy." His father scoffed loud with a shake of his head.

 

Maybe Eli was right, maybe he should of told them before hand - maybe it was important. Cullen turned to face Ellana in the distance as his mabari hound rushed past his legs almost bowling him over.

 

His whole world shifted like another Dwarven thaig earthquake yet everything stood still. It was he who moved and everything else stayed the same. The sounds of cooing filled his ears, his parents approved more of his mabari hound more than his wife, but that was not the problem - not even in the slightest.

 

 

_She was grabbing her bags...all of them._

 

 

That was two orders she had now defiled, unpermitted exit of a carriage and.. _..and_ carrying objects far to heavy, she was a true danger to society. 

 

" _Cullen_......"

 

_Oh no...Maker no, here it goes again....._

 

 

 _"Why are you_ ~~_\--_ ~~ _"_

 

 

Cullen blinked his eyes, he knew what he was in for it now. Why did Ellana have to go against his order, _'For every action has a consequence.'_ why couldn't she listen to him for _ONCE._

 

 

 _"Letting her_ ~~_\--_ ~~ _"_

 

 

But why did she have to be so cute, so small....every time he closed his eyes, he could see frolicking through the woods playing with bunnies and wild flowers in her fiery auburn braid.

 

 

 _"Carry_ ~~_\--_ ~~ _"_

 

A lioness she was more like, tearing and ripping the bunnies to shreds, chucks of meat and fur filling the air.

 

 

 

 _"All those bags_ ~~_\---_ ~~ _"_

 

 

Cullen leaped off his feet, she was doing this purpose. Eli was smiling while she did so.

_-She was so cute._

_NO, she IS EVIL_ _\---_ _sick and twisted!_

_-But so beautiful..._

_BUNNIES, DEAD BUNNIES._

 

 

"Eli what do you think you are doing?! I strictly said to wait... _THIS_ \- is not waiting! AND those bags...Maker don't even get me started, give them here."

 

"You took to long and... _no_." Ellana smiled as she bumped into his shoulder as she walked past.

 

 

_She truly was evil._

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 _Who where these people, they looked friendly enough_ \- she thought, the man looked a bit stern though, but the woman seemed happy enough. The older woman looked a lot like Cullen, she had a kind motherly face and a warm look about her, maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

 

"Hi I am..." She began to speak as Cullen started to talk over her, apparently she couldn't even introduce herself now.

 

 _"Mother, Father... This is my dear wife, Eli."_ Cullen paused as he blinked his eyes and gulped in his throat, "I mean, Ellana...Ellana Lavellan...Oh Maker," he coughed loud in his throat, why did he have to get so awkward when he was nervous, _"Ellana Rutherford."_

 

The human last name still sent a shiver down her spine, never in her wildest dreams did she expect to ever marry a human, yet as fate would have it, the idea of having her own last name instead of the clans was a more than pleasant feeling... Cullen was her new clan now. 

 

"Awh, such a beautiful young girl, c'mon here." Cullen's mother lunged forward as Ellana dropped her bags, she fell into the grasp of this tall woman. Her feet lifted off the ground as she grasped her tight...did they all have to be such giants... "Ellana, you may call me ma...mum or mother, everyone else does." Ellana's feet touched the ground once more as looked to the large woman, "Thank you.... _mother_?"

 

Cullen's mother smiled widely as her smirk turned to frown facing Cullen, "Cullen grab those bags, take them inside, Maker help you if you wear those boots inside too mister. No mud will be tracked in on my clean floors, I already had scold that brother of yours."

 

 "Branson is here already?" He asked.

 

"Of course he is, some of my child actually could hold the concept of time. Bags now... In your old bedroom will do." Cullen's mother shook her head as Cullen swept up the bags with a heavy pull as he kicked his boots off and headed inside without even looking back once.

 

"I swear Ellana, not all my children have their heads in the clouds."

 

She had no idea how to respond to that, how many children did she have....how many were inside...her woodened prosthetic arm was being a nightmare, it itched and rubbed against her skin but Cullen said no to her Dwarven battle arm...it had a pocket knife built into it, you never know when you could use a pocket knife, though Cullen refused any idea of her taking a staff or any kind of inbuilt weapon to a family gathering.

 

"So ~~\--~~ Er...when did Branson arrive?"

 

 

_Why was that the only thing she could come up with...._

 

 

"He arrived yesterday mornin' with his young son, his wife stayed home with the flu... Mia and Rosalie are here too. Mia lives in Lothering now after it being rebuilt after the Blight and Rosalie just moved to Redcliffe. You are Cullen are living...where exactly?"

 

 

_He didn't tell her...._

 

 

"Yes, where are you two living?" Cullen's father asked.

 

"We have a house in Kirkwall but we mainly reside in our house near Dragon's Peak a few hours outside Denerim, we didn't want to be too far away from Skyhold, if need be..."

 

 "Typical Cullen, always thinking of work... He should be moving closer to his family, how long does he expect us to live for anyway..." Cullen's mother shook her head, "A house in Kirkwall sounds nice though, hopefully it's a safe neighborhood, Cullen's stories of Kirkwall where always grim...I don't know why he would want to live there again."

 

"Oh, well - yeah." Ellana shrugged, "We don't often go there, it was a gift from our friend Varric."

 

"Varric Tethras, The Viscount?" asked his father.

"No, no...dear, Hawke is the Viscount."

 

His father groaned as he placed his palm to his face, "Damn it woman, Varric Tethras is the Viscount of Kirkwall, he has been for the last two years, Hawke is the Champion of Kirkwall, she's a mage..."

 

"Oh, silly me...I can never seem to keep track now days." His mother chuckled.

 

"Ah, yes..." Ellana nodded, "He was apart of our Inquisition team."

 

"A dwarf on the throne with a mage at his side, I never thought I'd live to see the day." His father scoffed as he crossed his arms.

 

"Er......"

 

"Enough politics you two! Ellana go inside...go meet the others, Cullen's room is down the hall and the second to the right."

 

_"Thank you."_

 

 

\--

 

 

This was getting more awkward by the second, hopefully the others would defuse the tension. The house was cozy and warm, it felt a lot like her own home with Cullen. Ellana hated anything fancy or over the top, this was a true family home.

 

Where was Cullen, he had to be around here somewhere... "Cullen, where are you?" She whispered around every corner.. _.how many rooms down did she say..._

 

"Here Eli." Cullen called as he moved to the doorway looking at her with a kink in his neck and giving her his narrow side ways eyes he did when he was unimpressed. "What, what did I do wrong now?"

 

_She had obviously done something wrong in the last ten seconds to get that look._

 

Her eyes met his room, his childhood room...it was so...small, but also so him... Ellana turned her head, a single  bed was to the corner and a templar shield mounted to the wall above, was it his? - books piled on the shelves,  drawings...a boiled leather ball in the corner.

 

"Eli, explain this?" Cullen's voice broke her from her day dream of young Cullen playing in here. He held a combat knife in his hand, six inches long, serrated and made from silverite.

 

"Oh, Er...I brought it in case I needed to cut.... _steak_?"

 

"You don't eat meat Eli....why would you need to cut steak?!"

 

Ellana shrugged, "I could change my mind...one day, maybe this week I will...you never know when you might need to cut a steak."

 

Cullen rolled his eyes, shoving the knife back into the bag, "No demons will come here, you have my word... Maker, the only demon around here is your split personality."

 

 _"Mine?"_ Ellana laughed as she shook her head. "I am not -"

 

 

"CULLEN!" A woman came rushing into the room, short curly blond hair that bobbed up at the ends and splash of freckles that littered her rosy cheeks. "Rosie?!"

 

"Well, who else would it be.. _.Mister-I'll-only-write-to-you-twice-a-year."_

 

"Oh Andraste, I am sorry...wow, you're so grown up." He smiled as his little sister poked his chest plate with pursed lips, "Right, because you busy night and day...you didn't even have one hour off?!"

 

"Ah, well...."

 

"Yeah, that's what I thought...Mia has it in for you Cullen, hopefully your wife can pull you into order, Maker help anyone who has to put up with you for the rest of their life."  Rosalie laughed as she turned to face Ellana with a wide smile, at least she wasn't a giant like the rest of her family.

 

"You must be Ellana, it's good to finally meet you, Cullen has told us next to nothing.... _typical._ "

 

 

"I was busy, working - _you know_ , to save the world." Cullen crossed his arms and scrunched up his nose as he spoke down to his little sister.

 

 

"Oh yes, saving the world by calibrating one trebuchet at a time. Good work brother."

 

 

 

"Maker have mercy on me." Cullen groaned.

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't typically write Cullen romance's... but...ugh, I just wanted to do something new and wacky... 
> 
> Cullen's parents are good people...nice people. However they come from a small country town, they aren't going to know to much about Dalish elves, other than what they hear in rumours and such... XD


End file.
